On Wednesday evening, I attended the VIP opening party for Buffalo Wild Wings in Pier Park. This is owner, Joshua Theiss’ second store with the first in Ft. Walton. It has a sports bar feel with around 45 screens playing sports and trivia games.
Service was great. Emily, my waitress, worked for a Buffalo Wild Wings in her home state and was eager to begin work at the location here when she relocated. The service was very prompt and my drink glass was always full. I’ve waited tables in the past and have a great appreciation for how difficult it is, but I always tip a waiter great when they keep my glass full.
Buffalo Wild Wings employs around 120 people from as far away as Freeport and Defuniak Springs. They have been training for a week straight with today being the first day off for many.
I ordered the Garlic Roasted Mushrooms for an appitizer and 12 wings mild for dinner. My wife had the Garden Burger. It was all great and served piping hot. The wings came with Celery and my choice of Ranch or Blue Cheese dressing (I chose Ranch) and the Garden Burger came with fries and looked delicious.?
PCBDaily 
We went there about 4:00 on Thursday 2/14. The place was big and open and there were not many people there yet. I have to tell you of all the restaurants we’ve ever eaten in different states/places, we received the Worst (no joke) service ever. I can understand that not everyone would have a personable attitude (you would think the manager would root their employees to be up beat since it’s the grand opening), but this male server was very inattentive. He did not check on us, did not give us refills, and did not get condiments that we had asked for. I’m sorry that I probably would be the only one in a million, but I don’t think I’ll ever go back to that place. The food was nothing to rave about either. To me this is more of a watch a game and drink beer type of place and not a place where you would actually enjoy a family sit down dinner. . First impression is always important to me when it comes to a restaurant. I would not give this place a good review at all…Sorry
LikeLike
This is great feedback, BRI. Not everything or everyone is perfect and that is understandable, however hopefully someone will read this that can make a difference and correct the problem you had.
LikeLike
Before they write their comments, they should write their ages as well. As we know there are many older people here and some are not accustomed to the way new places provide service. It is not fair to a place like this to receive a bad review from someone who just does not like anything that they are not use to. I am a Manager of a Resort and I know what I am talking about.
Thank You i have nothing to do with this place, I just think there are different ages that complain a little more than most.
LikeLike
We went to Buffalo Wild Wings too, and it was a bit disappointing. We are from the north, and are use to Buffalo Wild Wings and our experience at PCB wasn’t that great. My husband and I both wanted the chicken tenders. We were told they were out, and it would be another 20 min. We told them we would wait. Then the server returned and said they were not going to have any at all. I then ordered the grilled chicken sandwich. The chicken was pounded so thin, it was dry and had little flavor. Why wasn’t it a juicy chicken breast? It took forever to get our check and our drink refills. We are hoping this is all because it’s new and everyone is still learning….. we hope it will improve over time.
LikeLike
I just have a response for Carol. While I understand what you are talking about regarding “older people”, BRI clearly stated that their server did check on them, did not give them refills, and did not get their condiments. That clearly is poor service no matter what a person’s age. But, I also hope that BRI would give them another chance. (By the way I have no association with Buffalo Wild Wings.)
LikeLike
I don’t see why the age has anything to do with how a customer rates his/her service. The comment made was obviously because of what was experienced at the place, not somebody trying to make an immature comment. I thought this was to make a comment or to my understanding, I’m making a comment on the place’s food and service. Rating the place??? If this comment area is not for that, please correct me (Jason). Thanks. As far as giving that place another chance, maybe I will, but like I said it’ll probably be good place to have a beer and some appetizers with friends, but not a family sit down place…
LikeLike
Anyone going to the “grand opening” of any sports bar type of restaurant and expecting great service is not accustomed to attending “grand openings!” They are normally crazy, overrun, beyond capacity and short on food!
Additionally, Buffalo Wild Wings is not intended as a “fine dining” facility! Go to FireFly if that is your gig!
Also, Peter the manager is a great guy!
People need to keep things in perspective and set their expectations accordingly around such an event!
I am a local and I am waiting for the dust to settle before I hit the new establishments!
LikeLike
I live close to Pier Park and have already taken my family to Buffalo Wild Wings twice. We had a great experience both times. Our waiters did seem a little nervous and there were some delays but considering that they only opened a few days ago with 150 new employees, we were expecting there to be some problems. Everyone was extremely friendly and very attentive to our small children which really made their experience fun. The managers came around several times to be sure we were being taken care of. I was raised in the restaurant/bar business and I know how difficult it is to train new employees without some mishaps. Imagine having 150 new ones and a slam dunk opening weekend. I hope those of you who had bad experiences will give it another chance once the kinks are worked out. We have waited so long for Pier Park to open and these places really need our support and patience. We’re glad you are here, BW3’s!!!
LikeLike
My boyfriend along with 3 other friends went to Buffalo Wild Wings on Saturday night. The place was packed out and we waited for about an hour. The wait was really not a problem as we had a few drinks and played the trivia game they had. When we were seated, we ordered boneless wings. Boy were they good! These were probably the best boneless wings I have ever had. Everyone enjoyed them thoroughly. Dinner was great, the service was not too shabby for as busy as they were. That’s about it! We will definitely return to Buffalo Wild Wings again!!!
LikeLike
Awful – understaffed and not managed well! At a little after 1pm on a Saturday, the wait was over 30 minutes, yet over half of the tables were empty. When we inquired about this, the person told us that there wasn’t enough people on staff.
This was the 3rd place we tried to eat at. The first was Hofbrauhaus, where after a rude waiter told us to “sit anywhere”, we and the people around us were completely ignored for about 30 minutes, so we finally left. Then we attempted to go to the BBQ place and they were not accepting credit cards, so we ended up here. Food was mediocre.
I was hoping to find this site more informative as to having constructive reviews of places like restaurants, so I know where to try and where to skip, but so far every review is just advertising for that restaurant. Come on! Let’s see some honest reviews and rate the food, service, etc. based on national standards vs. comparing it to other places in the immediate area. Yeah, something could be great compared to the other (or lack of) choices we have here, but is that really saying anything???
And for the person who asked about age, please. A good manager takes bad feedback as constructive criticism and adds it to the list of things that they need to do better.
For those of you getting offended that other people dare to post honest posts that their experience was less than spectacular, get over it – we are not personal friends of the owner/manager, but our experiences still count and others reading these posts deserve to know both sides and then make up their own minds whether or not they want to take a chance on places like this one.
LikeLike
My wife and I visited BWW fo the first time last night and came away very disappointed. The service was great, but the food was terrible. My wife had the ribs and chicken finger basket. The ribs were fatty, the chicken rubbery (over cooked) and the fries were cold. I had a Blue Cheese Burger that was terrible. We had the Chile Con Queso before hand and the chips were old. Tasted like they were sitting out for a week. We told the waitress about the food and gave my wife a Chicken wrap that was bad. We decided to pay the bill and leave. As we were leaving, we tried to talk to a manager, but waited for over 10 minutes for one so we left. We had high hopes for this place, but we cannnot tell our friends that this was an enjoyable evening.
LikeLike
Well said Morgan. This was my thought when I posted my comment. A person should be able to look at these comments and decide on their own whether to try a place or not. A little knowledge about the food and service would help before trying a place for the first time. I know my husband always tells me about a place that his co-workers would recommend, but when he tries the place with me, I’m not raving about it. It’s still nice to give it a try though. But then at the same time if I was a Food Critique, every restaurant owner would probably hate me by now because when I go to a restaurant I really do observe the service and how the food is. I have had a server job years ago so I know how little they make at times. Don’t worry I’m still nice. ha ha
You would have to give a really crappy service for me to leave less than 20%.
LikeLike